


First Spoken

by SilverFox89



Series: From Then to Now [25]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Confessions, M/M, Verbal Fight, pissed off couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 09:46:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3846301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverFox89/pseuds/SilverFox89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stupid things often lead to the worst sorts of fights.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Spoken

**Author's Note:**

> 30 Day OTP Challenge for the Fluff Impaired Prompt #25: Brutal honesty
> 
> By the way people, Neji had a lot to say.

When Neji first came home he was in one of the best of moods he had ever had. He had some very important and good news to tell Shikamaru. That good mood did not last very long after the first greeting and simple compliment left his lips. While he had known Shikamaru to be shy and unused to compliments the fact that he constantly brushed them off was not something Neji took well. It quickly turned into the kind of fight the two men would cringe in shame over later. Though when one considered the fact that they had been in a relationship for two years without a serious fight, it probably should have been expected to happen one way or another. The worst part to Neji was Shikamaru's refusal to believe him when he complimented him on anything but his intelligence. After all this time the Nara had to know that Neji would never be anything but honest with him. This time, when Shikamaru dismissed his compliment yet again, Neji had finally had enough and he snapped.

 

"You are worth far more than you seem to think you are," the Hyūga snarled. "Your mind is only a small fraction of the whole that makes you, YOU! And I am tired of you ignoring everything else!"

 

Shikamaru reeled back as if stuck and his eyes narrowed, a mean glint starting to flicker in the dark depths.

 

"You think I don't know my own shortcomings?" The Nara's voice had gone dangerously soft. "You think I ignore these things?"

 

"I don't know how else to think when you refuse to acknowledge any sort of compliment I give you that doesn't involve your intelligence! You purposely brush them off as if they mean nothing, as if anything I have to say is false!" Neji exclaimed, his eyes flashing with white fire.

 

"Oh, so this is all about you, is it?" Shikamaru snapped.

 

"Well it certainly can't be about you since you never allow anything to be solely about you! What are you so afraid of?! Well?! What is it that has you running scared from me?!"

 

Shikamaru laughed, a dark, bitter sound. "You think I'm scared? Of you? Please. Get over yourself, Hyūga."

 

"If anyone needs to get over himself it's you, Nara. I'm sick and fucking tired of placing so much effort into someone who will never believe anything I say!" In his anger Neji missed the stricken look that flitted briefly over the Nara's face before it turned hard and cold.

 

"Is that so? Well, if I'm so much effort then why are you still here? Hm? If I'm so much effort then why don't you just leave? After all, you have so many better suited potential prospects than someone like me. It's not like you need me."

 

"Better suited prospects?! Do you really think of me as being so petty as to chase someone else when I chose to be with you?!" Neji's eyes flashed with suppressed violence. "I chose you, Nara! Out of all the people I could have chosen to build a life with, it was you I chose! Why would you even think that anyone else could come close?!"

 

"Easy! I'm a plain, low bred mongrel with absolutely nothing of any worth to offer you. Oh, and I'm too much effort according to you," Shikamaru said as if it didn't even bother him to say these things. His eyes, though, were still narrowed angrily.

 

"Who the hell said that too you?!" Neji roared suddenly and Shikamaru jumped, startled by the sudden escalation in volume of the Hyūga's voice. "Well?! Who dared to say such a horrible thing to you?!"

 

"Doesn't really matter now, does it?! or have you conveniently forgotten that I'm too much effort to -"

 

Neji, to angry and tired to listen anymore, lunged forward and snagged the Nara's shirt with both hands and yanked him hard against his chest. He heard the younger male grunt as his breath left him and never even gave the Nara time to snatch his breath back before he was slanting his mouth over Shikamaru's demandingly. The kiss was hard and angry. Neji nipped the Nara's bottom lip harder than he'd ever dared to before, drawing a small amount of blood as he demanded entrance, and Shikamaru gasped. That was all the opening Neji needed.

 

He thrust his tongue into his lover's mouth to lay claim to the moist cavern and he felt Shikamaru's knees weaken even as the Nara struggled in vain to pull away. Neji released one hand from the Nara's shirt quickly and wrapped that arm around Shikamaru's waist to pull him as close as humanly possible while still kissing the younger man fiercely. He heard and felt the guttural groan the Nara made low in his throat as he twined his tongue around Shikamaru's. Neji finally felt the Nara's hands fist in his hair as Shikamaru pressed his chest against his. The Hyūga tore his mouth away from the Nara's with a growl to nip and mark Shikamaru's jaw line and throat where everyone would be able to see his possessive marks.

 

"You're mine, Nara Shikamaru," Neji growled against the Nara's neck. He bit down, applying suction to make a large, dark hickey that no one would be able to miss even at first glance, and Shikamaru moaned low in his throat while his head tilted back instinctively. "From the moment I first kissed you with the intention to start a relationship with you, you were mine, Shikamaru! Do you honestly think I could let you go now? That I could even think about being with anyone else? That I could feel anything for another person the way I feel for you? You listen to me, Nara Shikamaru, and listen well. No one can or will ever compare to you. No one even comes close to comparing to you."

 

Neji slanted his mouth over the stunned Nara's again, softer this time. He coaxed the Nara into returning this kiss, instead of demanding his response, and slid the hand still tangled in Shikamaru's shirt up over his shoulder and wrapped it around the nape of the Nara's neck. Neji dug his fingers carefully into the tense muscles he found there and heard Shikamaru sigh softly into the kiss as the Nara slowly relaxed against him. The Hyūga pulled away and Shikamaru tried to follow him. His eyes fluttered open when all Neji did was press their foreheads together. Neji could see the questions the Nara wanted to ask gathering there but he could also see the pain and insecurity his lover was trying to hide. "Don't. Don't hide from me like that. Gods, I hate it when you hide what you're feeling from me."

 

Neji could feel a knot forming in his throat and his eyes burned. "You were never and will never be too much effort. Gods, I regret saying that in ways you will never know. If I could take back those horrible words I would, in a heartbeat. Shikamaru, you have no idea just how deep my feeling for you are. Though I suppose that's my fault for never saying anything once I realized exactly what it was that I felt for you."

 

"Neji, what -"

 

The Hyūga kissed Shikamaru again to silence him. This kiss was even slower and gentler than the second and Shikamaru leaned into Neji without hesitation. Neji broke the kiss with a shaky breath and tilted his head down and to the side to press a kiss to the Nara's throat, right over the pulse point.

 

Shikamaru tightened to grip of his fingers in Neji's hair, swallowing when he felt the tremble of the Hyūga's lips against his skin. The Nara felt the sting of tears in his eyes as he tilted his head back to allow Neji to linger there comfortably. Thickly he croaked, "We're idiots, the both of us."

 

He heard Neji's watery laugh, felt it vibrate along the skin of his throat. "True. I'm so sorry, baby. Gods know I never meant to be so cruel to you. I could never purposely do such a thing to you. Not when I…"

 

"When what, Neji?" Shikamaru asked softly of the man who's face was still hidden from him.

 

"Not when I love you so much that it feels as if I could never be whole without you here in my life. You're my everything, Shikamaru, and the thought of loosing you because of this… Gods… That thought cuts deeper than anything else ever could," Neji said, his voice shaky.

 

Shikamaru stood frozen in shock, not even breathing. Finally, "You…love me?"

 

The question was so stunned and plaintive that it made Neji clamp his eyes tightly shut to keep himself from outright crying. He pressed his eyes against Shikamaru's shoulder, a small wet spot forming there from the tears he stubbornly held back, and let out a shuddering breath as he dropped his hand away from the nape of the Nara's neck to band his arm as tightly around Shikamaru's shoulders as the one around was around the shadow-nin's waist was banded. "More than anything. If it ever came down to a choice between my family or you, my life or yours, my happiness or yours. Shikamaru, my choice would always be you, your life, your happiness. Always. I could never choose anything else. That's how much you mean to me."

 

Neji tightened his grip, hugging Shikamaru to him with a desperation born from the thought of almost having lost the best thing he'd ever had in his life. "I fell in love with you despite knowing that this could end badly. I didn't fall in love with you just because of your mind alone. I fell in love with YOU and everything that makes you who you are, both the good and the bad. To me, Shikamaru, you are more beautiful than anyone else that my Clan has ever tried to set me up with Even if you don't believe that you will ever be anything more than average you will never be average to me, not in any way.

 

"You're smart, funny, and utterly adorable at times. You make me smile even when all I want to do is scream, cry, or rage at the unfairness of this world. You make me laugh even when I've found nothing to find joy in. You calm me when my anger gets the better of me. You smile and suddenly everything is okay, no matter how bad things really are. How could I ever choose someone else when the person I've always _needed_ is you? Even when I was too blind to see what was _always right_ _there_ _in front of me the_ _entire_ _time_ while I searched for that elusive something that would make me feel whole, even when I didn't know I needed you it was still _always_ _you._ It has _always_ been _you_ , Shikamaru. I may not have know it then, but I was yours, Shikamaru, from the very first letter you wrote me."

 

Shikamaru sucked in a sharp breath to try and stem the flood of tears the Hyūga's words brought to his eyes, only to fail as they began to fall one after the other. He dropped his hands away from Neji's hair and hugged the older man just as tightly as Neji was holding him. "I -"

 

"You don't have to say anything you're not ready to say, Shika-"

 

"Shut up, you i-idiot. Y-you d-damn i-idiot," the Nara turned his head to press his lips to Neji's cheek as best he could despite the angle and the tears running down his cheeks. He managed to steady his voice briefly, "I love you too. S-so p-please d-don't…"

 

Neji lifted his head to look Shikamaru in the eyes. He gently cupped the Nara's face with both hands. "What, Shikamaru? Don't what?"

 

Shikamaru's dark, wet eyes searched the Hyūga's for a long moment. Finally he breathed out, "Don't let them take you from me."

 

"Them?" Neji froze and anger began to burn anew in his eyes. "The Clan Elders. Did they say those horrible things to you? Have they threatened you?"

 

"They did say those things," Shikamaru admitted, his voice a mere whisper. "But I wasn't the one they threatened. Because I'm the Nara Clan Head the Hyūga Clan can't touch me unless they want to risk a blood feud with the Nara Clan, which would mean that my Clan could deny them life saving medicines should they so choose."

 

"Then who?"

 

"You. The Elders have threatened to activate your Caged Bird seal to force you to comply with their whims. If they found out I said anything to you about -"

 

"Don't worry, Shikamaru. Ah, no. I mean it. There's nothing to worry about. Not any more at least. My seal cannot be activated by the Main House anymore. I had planned to tell you right before that fight started but…"

 

"What?" Shikamaru's eyes were wide and his voice not even a whisper. Neji only heard it because they were so close together.

 

"It looks similar enough that no one can tell the difference unless they are a fuinjutsu master and it works the same as before save for one important difference - it cannot cause pain or death because of a few hand signs. Naruto changed it on the mission I just came back from. With Hiashi-oji-sama's permission, of course," Neji explained softly.

 

"You mean Naruto's finally done it? He finally cracked the seal?!"

 

"Yes. The Elders tried to consolidate their power after the war but oji-sama was quick to place himself as the ultimate power, as he should have been in the first place as the Clan Head. The Elders thought to try to continue controlling him through me but as a Jōnin I'm almost entirely protected by the Hokage. Especially since there are so few Hyūga Jōnin and even less running missions as often as I do." Neji said. He continued, his voice taking on a more excited tone, "the only way they could have gone after me was if I wasn't doing my 'duty' to the Clan. Now, however, they have no control at all. Soon oji-sama, Hinata-sama, and Hanabi-sama will make their move to break the backbone of the corrupt Elders' influence. Do you know what this means?"

 

"You're free," Shikamaru breathed out.

 

"Yes. But more importantly, I will never be taken from you. I already told you, Shikamaru, you're my everything. Oji-sama asked me months ago, if it came down to a choice between my family or you what would I choose? That's when I knew," Neji said softly. "If I had only been brave enough to tell you all of this sooner then this fight might have never happened."

 

"I don't care about the fight anymore," Shikamaru rasped with a shake of his head. The Nara buried his face in Neji's shoulder and sighed shakily, "I'm just really tired now, Neji. Can we go lie down? I just… I just want to sleep beside you."

 

Neji smiled a little sadly and Nuzzled Shikamaru's hair with his cheek. Then, he stooped a little and hooked an arm behind the Nara's knees. In a fluid motion he hauled Shikamaru up into his arms and carried him to the bedroom. "Of course."

 

While the Nara normally would have been tense and complaining about being treated like a woman now he was limp in Neji's arms, his head resting on the Hyūga's shoulder without protest, and utterly silent. He carefully deposited Shikamaru on to the bed before crawling on it as well and spooned the Nara. He wrapped his arm around Shikamaru's waist and pressed a kiss to his temple. "Sleep. We'll talk more after we get up."

 

Shikamaru could only nod and twined his fingers with Neji's to keep him close.

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the next installment. Hope you enjoyed the story!


End file.
